The Forest Boy
by Cactus Bob
Summary: Yugi meets a strange young boy in the forest. As their lives begin to grow difficult and complicated, they must overcome their differences and support each other as true friends do.
1. The Shapeshifter

Yu-Gi-Oh! (c) Kazuki Takahashi

This is the result of a major rewrite. I feel as though I improved dramatically on the first version.

* * *

It was nearly twilight, and little Yugi traipsed through the forest. His heart was joyous and free, and his mind was filled to the brim with pleasant imaginations. He was an explorer discovering new lands. He followed winding animal trails, skipping over the foliage with the agility of a deer.

His pack was stocked with provisions. The night would be pleasant and warm. The glorious weekend had just begun. He could stay out here for days, if he had the mind to. It was a romantic thought, but he was already beginning to miss his parents.

That was the only problem with the woods. The large expanse of dense trees and plants was beautiful, exciting, peaceful… but it was also lonely. It might not have been so bad if the wild aborigines didn't flee when he approached. Yes, he was a human, but he wasn't going to harm the little fox and her cubs; he wasn't going to crush the swallow's brood of chicks. It was prejudice; that was what it was. It was discrimination against his species.

Almost as soon as the thought ran through his mind, a little bushy-tailed fox cub poked its head curiously out of its nest. Yugi crouched down, moving slowly with great restraint. He longed to cuddle the little ball of fur to his stomach and give it love and food, but it would fear his good intentions if he rushed in any way.

The fox stretched out his nose and sniffed Yugi's knees. Yugi almost trembled with anticipation. The creature seemed just about to leap into Yugi's lap, but it reconsidered and dashed back into its nest in the bushes. Yugi sighed. Absolute discrimination.

He stood up against and brushed the leaves off his pants. The encounter with the fox had dampened his spirits a bit, so he decided that he would just travel to the lake and then head back home. The lake was his favorite spot in the entire forest, because it seemed to have a strange, melancholy beauty that filled his soul with magic.

He was about to set off again when the bushes stirred once more. Perhaps the cub, in an astonishing leap of logic, had decided to reconsider his biases and give Yugi another chance. Or perhaps the cub's mother had decided to take a chunk out of Yugi's leg for interfering with her children.

But the creature that emerged from the bushes was neither fox cub nor fox mother. Instead, it was a young, dirt covered boy. He could have been Yugi's long lost brother—oh, that was a very romantic idea—because he looked so much like Yugi. His eyes were just like Yugi's, his hair was just like Yugi's, even his clothes were just like Yugi's. There were a few subtle differences, but they were hardly noticeable. "Hi!" Yugi said cheerfully. His voice seemed to echo loudly in the serene quiet of the woods.

The boy recoiled. He seemed as frightened of Yugi as the little fox cub had been. Yugi frowned. Was he really so intimidating to these forest people? "Do you want to have dinner with me?" Yugi offered. The boy opened his mouth as if he was going to reply, but all that emerged was cooing noises, as if his words had come straight from a pigeon's beak.

Yugi, young and innocent, assumed that this was just an elaborate game of make-believe. The boy was imitating a pigeon, and in Yugi's estimation he was doing a spectacular job of it. He wasn't hopping quite as much as he should have, but his pigeon sounds were beyond compare.

Yugi opened up his pack and handed the boy a loaf of bread, since it was so conducive to a pigeon imitation. The boy tasted it with careful hesitation, and then he began shoving it into his mouth with gleeful gusto. This wasn't a pigeon's way of eating, Yugi realized. Maybe the boy had grown tired of being a bird. Yugi took this opportunity to try and learn more about him.

"I'm Yugi," Yugi declared. "What's your name?" The boy stared at him, eating but not answering. Was he still playing his little game? "Time out, for a minute," Yugi said. "What's your name?"

The boy's eyes glazed over with confusion. Yugi's brain began to supply a number of creative explanations. Maybe the boy was from a village beyond the woods, where they didn't speak English. Maybe, even, he was from a village _within_ the woods. How exciting!

Yugi pointed to his chest. "Yugi," he said. He pointed to the boy. "What's your name?"

The boy swallowed the last slice of bread—he had eaten the entire loaf in minutes—and he seemed to understand. He must have been very intelligent to get Yugi's meaning so quickly. He uttered something that sounded like a sneeze merged with a cough. Yugi gaped at the difficulty of the pronunciation.

"Uh… A-tem?" Yugi repeated. That was the closest that his thick English tongue could get. "Atem?"

The boy seemed to find this mutilation of his name satisfactory, so he nodded. "Yugi," Atem repeated. His voice seemed to fade back into a pigeon's coo when he enunciated the long U, but the word was still understandable.

"Nice to meet you," Yugi continued.

"Nigh to me chew," Atem replied. Yugi almost laughed, but he thought that it would be offensive. Atem kept watching Yugi carefully and warily, as if Yugi was about to strangle him. He had a compulsive habit of rubbing the middle of his forehead, leaving streaks of red, irritated skin and brown dirt across his brow. Finally, the tension became too much for him. He inclined his head in a short bow of gratitude and then took off into the woods without a look back.

Yugi closed up his pack, slightly disappointed at Atem's actions. What was so frightening, he wondered, about a little Kitinese boy? Maybe if he came back again, Atem wouldn't be so scared of him.

* * *

Yugi's next visit to the woods was nearly three months later. He hadn't intended to wait so long, but he had gotten so caught up with his life that he had almost forgotten entirely about the forest boy.

He had taken along a large offering of food—more bread, a few handfuls of raisins, and the cookies he had managed to pilfer from the kitchen. He still couldn't imagine how he and Atem would be able to communicate, but as long as he could get across the concept of hide-and-seek, it would all be just as well.

Taking the paths he had discovered years ago, he hiked back to the bushes where the fox cub resided. Perhaps Atem frequented that spot. If not, it would always be good fun to head to the magical lake again. He sat with his legs crossed in the leaves and yelled, "Atem!" And then he waited patiently to see if anything would happen.

He was just about to give up and move on when a finger delicately tapped him on the shoulder. Yugi spun around and came face to face with Atem, whose forehead was still heavily caked with grime. "Hello, Yugi," Atem said. "It's nice to see you again. You've brought more food, haven't you?"

Yugi's mouth fell open. Three months ago, Atem couldn't speak a word of English. Now he was fluent, his pronunciation flawless! Atem looked at him amusedly. "Please don't be shocked. Yours is not the first language I've learned," he explained.

"I don't think anybody's learned English that fast," Yugi exclaimed.

Atem shrugged. "It's a gift," he said shortly. He eyed the pack, and he seemed to be fighting hard to keep his drool in check. Yugi handed the food to him, and he pounced on it, tearing into the familiar bread first.

As Atem gorged himself, Yugi brimmed with curiosity. It was such a nice surprise to think that his many questions could now be answered. "Why did you run away from me last time?" he began. It was the start of a long questionnaire.

Atem once again brushed a dirty hand over his forehead. "I admit that I was a bit afraid of you last time," he said.

"Why? I'm not scary," Yugi said defensively.

"You're different," Atem replied. This statement, albeit short, seemed very profound to Yugi, so he decided to move onto the next question.

"So where do you live?" Yugi asked.

"In the forest," Atem answered. Yugi used his eyes to urge him on. "I don't stay in one place very often. I need to travel to find food, or the animals become wary of me."

Yugi cocked his head. "Don't you have parents to feed you?" Atem finished off the last of the bread and looked away. "Oh… I'm sorry," Yugi said sadly. "Are you all alone out here?"

"The animals keep me company, until they realize that I'm not like them," Atem said. His own answer seemed to worry him. He started on the raisins quickly, as though he was afraid they would be taken away soon.

And very slowly, the pieces were coming together in Yugi's mind. Atem lived in the forest with no home to speak of; he talked about the animals as if they were close acquaintances; he was obviously multi-lingual; he had crawled, dirt-covered, out of a fox's nest; and he had managed to wear Yugi's exact outfit two separate times. Yugi's eyes widened, and Atem stuffed the last of the cookies and raisins in his pockets. "Hey," Yugi said slowly. Atem began backing away. "You're… you're a shapeshifter!"

"Th-thank you very much for the meal. I must be going now," Atem stammered. He was about to turn and run off again, and Yugi panicked. He couldn't lose such an opportunity. He had just met a shapeshifter, face-to-face!

"Wait!" Yugi yelled. "Come on, I'm not gonna tell anybody about you, I promise."

Atem froze. "You promise?" he repeated. Yugi nodded emphatically. "And what exactly do you want in exchange?"

Yugi frowned. "I… Well, I guess just to be friends with you."

"… Friends?" Atem said quietly. He seemed surprised to hear that word in reference to him. He stared at Yugi skeptically, as though he was playing some kind of cruel joke. "Do you mean… that you would come to see me often? With food?"

"Sure. Of course," Yugi replied cheerfully. "Whenever my parents let me."

That didn't sound quite so bad. "Alright," Atem said hesitantly. "Then I guess that we're friends."


	2. Alone

It was Saturday afternoon, and the sun was just beginning to set. Atem was sitting patiently in the little clearing by his nest, waiting for Yugi to come. They hadn't seen each other for over two months. Yugi had agreed that he would visit at least once a week. What had caused him to break his promise? Atem was often tempted to wander out into Yugi's village, Kitin, to figure out what was wrong. But he had no idea where Yugi lived, and he felt anxious around crowds.

The sound of slow, ponderous steps echoed through the forest. A hand pushed its way through an unruly bush, and Yugi broke into the clearing. Atem sprang to his feet, filled with joy and with anger, but when he saw the look on Yugi's face, both emotions faded away. "Yugi, what's wrong? Where have you been?" Atem demanded.

Yugi was silent for a moment. He kept his eyes to the ground, and his whole body seemed to be weighed down with an invisible burden. Atem could see the sorrow emanating from Yugi as clearly as if it were a tangible thing. "My parents died," Yugi answered finally.

Atem felt a pang in his heart. Yugi must have been suffering terribly, and Atem wanted to comfort him in any way possible. But what did a person say to that? What words could possibly ease the pain of such a loss?

Yugi's shoulders trembled, and he tried to hide his tears by rubbing his eyes. Atem took Yugi into his arms and held him close as the heaviness of Yugi's pain left him weak and shaky. He stroked Yugi's back, silently letting Yugi cling to him for comfort.

Despite the fact that Yugi was crying into his chest, Atem felt a perverse and ill-timed happiness that Yugi had eventually returned. Since the day that Yugi had first wandered into the forest, he had worried that this was all just some sick game. Perhaps Yugi was just the puppet of some deranged hunter who was seeking the distinction of capturing a legendary shapeshifter. Or maybe Yugi was just as duplicitous as Atem's parents, building up their friendship like a sandcastle and then smashing it down for amusement. But none of these things were true, and inwardly, Atem rejoiced.

Yugi stood on his own two feet again, sniffling, his eyes all red and sore. He took a deep, shuddering breath to calm his nerves. "I've been living in an orphanage since they passed away," Yugi said. "They wouldn't let me bring you any food…"

"Yugi, that's not important at all," Atem said soothingly.

Yugi sank onto the ground. "I just… I just feel so alone," he whispered. He took a leaf in his hands and began ripping it apart. "You're the only person left who cares I exist." He sighed and tossed the bits of leaf away. "And the orphanage is just making things worse. I hate living there."

"What will you need to do to get your own house?" Atem asked.

"I could wait until someone adopts me, wait until I'm legally an adult, or prove that I'm able to take care of myself by getting good grades, earning an apprenticeship, and getting a recommendation from someone," Yugi said. "But nobody in Kitin is looking for a kid, it'll be years until I'm an adult, and I have no idea who would give me a recommendation."

Atem suddenly got an idea. "Why don't I give you a recommendation?" he offered.

Yugi chuckled sadly. "Atem, I don't think anybody's going to listen to a twelve-year-old kid who lives in the forest," he said.

"Neither do I," Atem replied, grinning. Yugi started to catch on to his plan. "You work on getting good grades and an apprenticeship. I'll work on finding a respectable persona."

"You'd really do that for me?" Yugi said, his eyes widening. Atem nodded, and Yugi threw himself onto Atem once again, not for grief, but for gratitude. "Thank you! Thank you so much!"

* * *

Atem and Yugi didn't see each other very much for the next few weeks. Or, more accurately, Yugi didn't see Atem very much. Atem had starting coming into the village of Kitin in the form of a pigeon. He perched on the top of a building or street sign, observing human customs. He had learned how to speak English in the same way.

As he sat and preened his feathers, he paid close attention to the people who seemed to demand respect from others. He made note of the clothes those people wore, the way they held themselves, the words they used when they spoke. He began to see that humans respected money and power, but they also respected dignity, education, and cleanliness.

Soon, he had formed his optimal persona: He was a scholar in zoology from the city of Graynos and a friend of Yugi's late parents. He would stroll into the orphanage with his nose in the air and tell them exactly what he thought of Yugi—that he was a strong, kind, intelligent boy who could easily take care of himself.

When the proper day came, he headed to the brook to bathe. Then he trekked to the edge of the forest and shifted into the form of a tall, dark-haired, bespectacled man, haughty enough to be renowned and nerdy enough to be a renowned scientist.

It was a struggle to stay calm within the hoards of busy humans, but Atem was careful to stay in character. Yugi's future was at stake. When he walked into the orphanage, he obviously made the desired impression—he attracted the attention of everyone in the room.

A man floated up to him, as earth-bound as a ghost, and as old as one. His avarice was barely hidden beneath his aged, watery eyes. He must have been indulging the idea that Atem was here to make a donation. "Hello… How can I help you?" the man asked.

"I would like to inquire as to the status of Yugi Mutou," Atem asked casually. "I was informed that he was staying here."

"Ah, yes," the man replied. "Yes, his parents were just murdered by bandits. Poor boy… Do you know him?"

"I was a friend of his parents," Atem lied. "His grades are satisfactory, I presume? And he has acquired an apprenticeship? I would expect no less."

"He recently submitted a request for an entry into the Autonomous Minors Association," the man said. "He has excellent grades, a stable apprenticeship… All he lacks is a recommendation."

"I must say, I am surprised," Atem said. "Yugi has always been an exceptional child. How his master and his teacher cannot see that, I do not know."

The man raised his eyebrows. "Would you, perhaps, like to submit a recommendation?"

"Consider it submitted," Atem answered coolly.

"Well, well… That's certainly excellent. I'll inform Yugi of the news," the man said. "We'll set him up in our housing program as soon as possible. I'm sure that he's very grateful for your contribution."

"If you would, let Yugi know that my son misses him, and he's hoping that they can go exploring in the forest as soon as possible," Atem said. Of course, he had no son; he was referring to himself.

The man nodded and drifted away, wringing his deformed knuckles and frowning. Atem relaxed enough to release a sigh. That had been easier than he imagined. Yugi would now live happy, free, and untroubled.

Still, there was a downside to this new development. Atem knew what it was like to live alone and orphaned at a young age, forced to take care of yourself before you were ready. Yugi would feel very lonely and overwhelmed, and Atem could barely stand to think that his friend would suffer that way. If only there was some way that both of their problems could be solved, that neither of them would have to be lonely…

There _was _a way. Why couldn't Yugi and Atem just live together? Atem wasn't ready to fit into a human world in a human form, not yet, but there were plenty of other forms at his disposal. Atem could masquerade at Yugi's pet.

The plan was practicable, but would Yugi care for it? That would have to be determined when Yugi returned to the forest. Atem transformed into a fox and curled up in his nest, and his heart was filled with the hope of no longer being alone.

* * *

As soon as Yugi heard the news that he had received his recommendation, he knew that Atem had kept his promise. He began filling out a form for housing immediately, because he was anxious to get out of this oppressive place.

Getting a place of his own was freeing, but it was also frightening. He was twelve years old, and now he was expected to take care of himself as though he were an adult. What if his grades slipped or his master fired him? Would he end up back in the orphanage? Would he end up on the street? The possibilities made his stomach churn and his brain throb.

He couldn't fail at anything. He couldn't make normal childish mistakes. There was too much on the line. He needed to be perfect every day, because there was no room for error. It was so much pressure, but Yugi promised himself that he would do whatever it took to remain an autonomous minor.

When he finished putting his identity on paper, he took the form down to the housing offices and earned a tour of his new home. It was a small place in a poor neighborhood, far from his school and job, but it was home-sweet-home now. He received his monthly allotment of five hundred dollars, and he was left alone.

The house was empty, dusty, and cold, but it was also disconcertingly quiet. There were no yelling preschool children, no bickering teenage girls. It was just Yugi and the spiders and the mice.

The floor creaked when Yugi walked on it. The ceiling was webbed with water stains. The walls were stained with mold. It was decrepit and old, but it was his and his alone.

He walked upstairs, entered his bedroom, and sat down on his new bed. The mattress springs squeaked. He had no covers, no sheets, no pillows. There were no groceries in the cupboard downstairs, no ice in the icebox. There were no logs for the fireplace. Yugi began to feel panicked and worried. How was he supposed to furnish his house and feed himself on a mere five hundred dollars a month? Not to mention the fact that this building wanted serious structural repairs.

He was alone, under-funded, and overwhelmed. If this was adulthood, he didn't want it. He wished that his parents were here. He wished that someone, anyone, could help him. The burden of his life weighed down his heart, and he lay down on his bare mattress and cried.


	3. A Helper

The telltale sounds of graceless human feet met Atem's sharp fox ears. He poked his snout out of his hole and sniffed the air. Yes, it was Yugi. He crawled onto the forest floor, which was turning to dirt and roots as November progressed, and changed back into his standard human form.

The first thing he noticed about Yugi was that he was tired. He was tired in more than just a physical way. His fatigue passed beyond his bones and infected his very soul. His first week in his new home must have been a difficult one.

Atem had been stewing over his idea since it had first come into his mind. Surely Yugi wouldn't mind some company, but it might be too much of a burden on Yugi to have another mouth to feed.

"You look exhausted," Atem stated. Yugi collapsed onto the ground with a sigh and rubbed his eyes.

"I've been trying to get my house put together, but I have to take care of school and work too," Yugi answered. "I can't stay very long—I have homework to do, and I need to go shopping. I just missed you. Living alone can be, well, lonely."

"Yugi," Atem began quietly. "If you wish… I can live with you."

The shock of this statement stirred Yugi out of his depression. "Live with me?" he repeated. "Like… as a human?"

"Well, no," Atem replied. "I can't go to school and to work like you. I've lived like an animal for my entire life. So why shouldn't I live as an animal with you?"

"… I don't know…" Yugi said hesitantly. "I mean, it would be great to live with you, but I can barely take care of myself right now. I can't afford a pet."

"I don't need much," Atem said. "I can get food for the both of us. I can help you. And I can be there for you." He had practiced this speech in his mind. For years, he had lived alone like Yugi, encumbered with the responsibility of taking care of himself from his early childhood. At first, he could only find relief for his loneliness in the animals that surrounded him, but then Yugi had come and filled his life with hope. Now he had been given the opportunity to leave this lonely forest behind, and he wouldn't let such a simple thing as money get in the way.

"Well…" Yugi said. "I guess that it'll be alright." He stood up, signifying that he was about to leave. "Are you ready to go?" he asked.

Without a moment of hesitation, Atem nodded. He had spent the last fifty years nursing a deep resentment for anything related to his parents and his species, including this forest. He knelt on all fours, transformed into a large dog, and trotted by Yugi's side as they left Atem's old nest for good.

It was a very long walk back to Yugi's little shack. As they passed through the main part of town, Atem found that he possessed powerful magnetic power in this canine form—he repelled women and attracted children. But when they entered the poor neighborhood, people started to look at him as though he were nothing more than meat.

Yugi unlocked his door and let Atem in. The house was in even more disarray on the inside than on the outside. Yugi had bought the only furniture he could afford; that is, he had bought things that had been pieced together with driftwood and gum. Atem could smell mouse droppings, and there were spider webs on the ceiling and in the cupboards. The upper floor looked like it would collapse under their combined weight. The bathtub reeked of old filth.

Yugi seemed ashamed of his rot-house, and he rubbed the back of his head with embarrassment. "Well… this is it," he said softly. "It's not much, but…" Atem gave Yugi a reassuring hand-lick and set off to find a relatively dust-free corner to make his bed in. Yugi pulled out a couple of papers and a pencil and sat down at his "table" to do his homework.

About an hour later, Atem returned to the kitchen in human form to find Yugi doing battle with a spider. Atem strolled calmly up and squished the spider under his hand. Yugi made a disgusted face, but he was grateful that the spider was now in a better place—the trash can.

Pieces of an old fence were piled by the stove, and Yugi was trying to start a fire with a few pages of his history book and a flint. Atem watched the process carefully, for he would also need to learn how to start a fire, but Yugi didn't exactly seem the expert on the subject. It took fifteen minutes and a lot of muttering to set the fence-pieces ablaze.

It was a simple dinner of grilled fish, but Atem ate it with gusto. It was the first hot meal he had eaten in his life, and it made warmth spread from his stomach to the tips of his fingers and toes. Although this life must have been terribly oppressive to Yugi, Atem actually found it novel and luxurious. Warm food, a fire, and a roof over his head—he had never lived with these wonderful things before.

"I'll pick up some vegetables tomorrow," Yugi said, half to Atem and half to himself. "And I'll have to pick up some more bait and go down to the lake again, 'cause that was the last of our fish."

"Don't worry about the fish," Atem replied. "I'll take care of that."

Yugi looked both surprised and relieved. He wasn't used to having a helper yet. "Alright, thanks," he said gratefully.

The sun was setting, and Yugi couldn't afford to keep the house lit, so he began getting ready for bed. He sifted through the box of the only things that remained from his old home—his clothes—and changed into a pair of dirty blue pajamas. He grabbed his other sets of clothing and started to put them on over his PJ's for warmth. Then he grabbed a blanket that looked like it had been picked up off the street and wrapped it around himself before lying down on the ground in a fetal position.

"Why sleep out here? Don't you have a bed?" Atem asked.

"The bed had a rat's nest in it," Yugi answered. "Besides, it's warmer by the stove." So Atem decided to forsake his little spot in the bedroom. He took his dog's form, for warmth's sake, and then curled up next to Yugi. Yugi smiled softly and placed his head on Atem's side, although his fur was a little dirty, tangled, and smelly. "I'm glad you're here," Yugi whispered, and then the little human drifted into sleep with the shapeshifter watching over him.

* * *

Yugi was up before dawn the next morning, trying to get as presentable as he could with his limited resources. He gathered up the books, pencils, and writing tablet that had been donated by his school, and he dashed out of the house without eating breakfast.

Atem reeled in the wake of Yugi's hustle and bustle for a short while before he got his bearings. Yugi would be gone until late in the afternoon, so this was the perfect opportunity for Atem to show that he would be a good roommate. The first priority was food. He would need to get something small, like a pair of rabbits, for two reasons: first of all, there was no way of preserving the food, and second of all, it would be very difficult to inconspicuously transport a large load across the entire village of Kitin.

He turned into a young man with soft features and brown hair, and he started the very long journey to the forest. The sun was just rising as he arrived at the edge of the woods. Within thirty minutes, a proud wolf held two hares in his jaws, and a proud human transported them back home.

Depositing the rabbits on the stove, he remembered something important—they needed firewood. Cursing himself for his stupidity, he trekked back to the forest and made lunch of a few sparrow eggs before returning to the house with his arms full of branches.

Half of the day was gone, and all he had done was get dinner and a bit of kindling. Water would be useful too, and he was glad that there was a public well at the town square. He nearly blinded himself blowing the dust out of a bucket in the corner of the kitchen, and then he filled it up outside and put it in the corner so that Yugi could drink from it or cook with it or bathe with it, whatever he wished.

Atem spent the rest of the afternoon in the shape of a house cat, devouring all of the mice and rats that plagued Yugi's upper floor. Yugi returned just as the sky was turning burnt orange. He already seemed exhausted when Atem came to greet him at the door. "Hi," Yugi breathed. He froze at he looked up at Atem's face.

"What's wrong?" Atem asked.

"You… have a little fur on your mouth," Yugi replied uncertainly. Atem wiped it off. It was just some leftover rat.

Yugi walked into the kitchen and saw the rabbits, firewood, and water. "Did you do all of this while I was gone?" he asked. Atem nodded. "This… this is amazing! I don't know how to thank you."

"Don't worry about that," Atem replied. "How was your day?"

Yugi headed over to the stove and started to light a fire. "Well, let's put it this way—only five years and a hundred and twenty-two days left to go."

"Until what?" Atem asked.

"Until I become an adult and get out of school and get a job that pays more than a baguette," Yugi answered.

"So you're what… forty-five now?" Atem asked. Yugi turned around and looked at him as though he had transformed into a pink elephant. "Sorry—thirty-five?"

"I'm twelve," Yugi stated. Atem had to fight hard to keep his jaw from dropping. So young? By shapeshifter estimation, Yugi was no more than a toddler! "How… old are you?" Yugi asked hesitantly.

After learning that Yugi was such a babe, Atem was almost reluctant to answer. "Sixty-three," Atem replied.

Yugi was visibly stunned, but he tried desperately to appear casual. "Oh… Well, I guess that you can appear to be whatever age you want, huh? I just assumed… that you were a kid like me," he said.

"That's actually young, by our standards," Atem said. "I've only been considered an adult for about a decade." Yugi choked out a laugh, perhaps at hearing the words "only" and "decade" in the same sentence.

"Maybe it's good," Yugi said. "I could use a grown-up to take care of me."

Atem sat down very lightly in one of the makeshift chairs. Yugi was so young. He was just a little older than Atem had been when his parents abandoned him. How could anyone stand to see someone so helpless struggle all alone? This Kitin was a lawless, desolate place, no better than the hive. If no other grown-up would take care of Yugi, Atem would, and he would make sure that Yugi was never alone.


	4. Light and Shadow

Two and a half years had passed since Atem had moved in with Yugi, and life had gotten easier. They had fixed up the house and bought respectable furniture. There were covers on the bed and a pillow in the corner, for Atem's sake. The mice had learned to fear the mysterious "cat" that frequented the Mutou house, and so rodents were rarely seen.

Yugi had entered high school and made other friends. Joey, Tea, and Tristan were impressed by the idea of Yugi living alone, and they often came over to see what Yugi was doing with his place. Atem always disappeared when they came over, because Yugi wasn't ready to tell his friends about him yet.

Yugi was becoming quite proficient in the art of baking and pastry making, and his apprenticeship at the town bakery was flourishing. Cooking had never been Yugi's passion, but he chose the profession because of the free food.

Atem lay on his little pillow with his head on his paws. Yugi was snoring softly in the corner. The house was quiet and serene. All was well.

But the tranquility of the morning was violently disturbed by a large boom downstairs. Yugi jerked up to a sitting position, wheeling around to see what had happened. The sound of heavy boots resounded through the hall, and the bedroom door was knocked off his hinges. Before Atem could even think, he felt a sharp pain in his flank. The world began to swim before his eyes. He saw Yugi be hit on the head and dragged out of the room by the mysterious blurry strangers. He tried to transform into something dangerous so that he could teach these men a lesson, but he drowsily found that he could no longer change shape. Finally his eyelids became too heavy to hold open, and he closed his eyes and drifted into unconsciousness.

* * *

Yugi awoke to a splash of painfully cold water in his face. He opened his eyes, sputtering, and found that it was incredibly dark. Only a few candles brought illumination to a pitch-black room. There was no sunlight here, or moonlight, or starlight. He could barely make out the outline of a man's body standing before him, his arms crossed and his eyes flashing yellow in the candlelight.

"How did you discover the shapeshifter?" the shadow-man demanded.

This was an interrogation, Yugi realized dimly, and it was about Atem. If he answered, then he could be putting Atem in danger, so he kept his mouth shut. "How did you discover the shapeshifter!?" the shadow-man boomed fiercely. Yugi trembled, perhaps from the very intensity of the sound waves, but he remained silent. "Trying to protect your little friend, aren't you?" the man asked. He crouched in front of Yugi so that Yugi could feel his breath. It was warm and wet, and it reeked. "Well, you're a little late. Your buddy's a few cell blocks down. And I swear…" He pulled out a vile blade and played with it under Yugi's nose. "If you don't answer my questions, then I'll make sure both of you suffer."

Yugi was young and a little naïve, but he wasn't stupid. He was quite certain that both he and Atem were going to suffer whether he answered this man's questions or not. But he didn't know how well he stood up to pain. What sort of secrets would he reveal under torture? Whose lives would he endanger? He almost wished that he could remove his own tongue as the man held the tip of the knife to his chest, and he screamed as the knife was dragged slowly across his skin.

Yugi didn't know what he said or what he did between the beginning of the agony and the slow, painful end. He probably told that man about everything and everyone he ever knew—Atem, his friends, his school principle.

He was thrown to the ground carelessly in a cell with no light. When he closed his eyes, it was dark. When he opened his eyes, it was just the same. The shallow, inch-long slits on his chest itched and burned and throbbed, and they leaked little streams of blood onto the hard, cold floor. His throat was dry; his stomach was empty; his mind was reeling from the effects of intense pain and impenetrable darkness. He was too afraid and too shocked to weep. He curled up in a little ball, staring with his eyes wide open and seeing nothing.

Days passed, and then weeks. Food was scarce, and Yugi became even thinner than he had been before. Light slowly became associated with pain, because the only illumination that Yugi ever saw was in the torture room. Solitude was taking its toll, and Yugi began to imagine that he heard the phantom voices of his parents, of his friends, of Atem. His mind began to fade and flicker; he grasped at the thoughts that floated through his consciousness but never seemed to catch one.

When the yellowish light drifted toward his cell, shining on the rat bones and the chains and the spider webs, Yugi hoped that it was an angel coming to tell him that he had died. But the sound of heavy footsteps and soft bickering disproved this theory. Those were no angels—those were Yugi's friends!

Weak but desperate, Yugi pushed himself off the floor and dragged himself over to his saviors. "Guys!" he wheezed. His voice, worn hoarse by screaming, barely carried into the hallway. "Guys!" he wheezed again, to the same effect. But his friends were still coming, closer, closer. They came in front of his cell. There they were! There _were_ like angels, bright and glorious with the promise of freedom, food, and sunlight.

"Yugi!" Tea exclaimed. She crouched down and put her hands through the bars, grasping Yugi's withered limbs gratefully.

"Tea, I thought I was going to die," Yugi said, nearly bursting into tears for happiness.

"Stand back, guys," Tristan said. He had an axe in his hand, so Yugi took him seriously. Three fierce, loud blows knocked the lock off the cell door. It now opened to lead Yugi away from torture, not towards it.

Yugi was too weak to stand, but Joey effortlessly scooped him up and placed the emaciated little boy on his back. "Now let's get outta here," Joey said. "Somebody mighta heard dat."

"Wait," Yugi whispered into Joey's ear. "We have to get Atem."

"Atem?" Joey asked. "Who's dat?"

"Please… he's nearby…" Yugi pleaded. Joey nodded, although he was as confused as the rest of Yugi's friends, and they set off deeper into the dungeon. Tea held her lantern up high, peeking into cell after cell, but each one was empty. Finally Tea lit up a cell and illuminated a crumpled ball of a creature. Whatever it was, it was certainly not human, nor any other kind of animal that any of them had seen before.

"Whoa!" Tristan exclaimed.

"What is dat?" Joey asked.

Yugi lifted his head and focused his eyes. "That must be him," Yugi muttered. "I've never seen him in that form before…"

Yugi's friends exchanged inquisitive glances, but Tristan took up his axe again and broke the lock. Atem stirred slightly when Tristan picked him up, but he must have been in worse condition than Yugi, because he didn't wake up.

"_Now_ can we get outta here?" Joey hissed. Yugi nodded, and they dashed out of the dungeon into the fresh air and the sunlight. Yugi tried to take a deep breath, but he ended up choking and coughing out all of the stale, dank air in his lungs.

"Come on, guys, let's come to my house," Tea offered. "My parents are out of town for the next couple of weeks." She obviously didn't want anyone asking questions about Atem.

The dungeon had opened into the forest, so it was quite a trek back to Tea's house. Yugi faded in and out of consciousness as they brushed between the foliage and navigated the forest paths. He was free and safe again, and all he wanted to do was stare at the sun. But the daylight hurt his eyes, so he ended up squinting at the ground.

They entered Tea's house through the back door, eased Yugi into a chair, and gently lowered Atem onto Tea's plushy bed. "He looks like he's in bad shape," Tea said softly. She pushed his ragged shirt up to his chest and shook her head sadly at his sharply defined ribs.

"Yug', wanna tell us what dat is?" Joey asked. Tea stomped on his foot, and his face turned red with pain. "Wanna tell us what _he_ is? Sheesh."

"He's a friend of mine," Yugi answered. "He's a shapeshifter." They were all visibly incredulous, even though the proof of this statement was lying right before their eyes. "I met him when I was a kid. He's been living with me for about two years."

"But… how did we never see him?" Tea asked.

"He would always hide somewhere when you came over," Yugi explained. "I… well, I didn't really know what you would do if you found out. And I don't think that he was ready to let other people know about him, either."

"What did you think we'd do, man?" Tristan asked. "If you think he's a good guy, then we do, too."

"He's right! Any friend of yours is a friend of ours," Tea said cheerfully.

Yugi leaned back in his chair. He had spent all that time alone, with no one there but his torturer, and now he was back in the light, surrounded by friends. For the first time, he could enjoy the company of Tea, Joey, Tristan, and Atem all at the same time. His life was being reborn out of the ashes like a phoenix, coming back only more wonderful and beautiful than before. "Do you have anything to eat?" Yugi asked quietly. Tea gently patted him on the shoulder and left to get some food.


	5. The Golden Eye

Yugi looked at Atem, who was still lying unconscious on Tea's bed. They had kept Atem alive with chicken broth for the last week, but he still hadn't woken up so that he could eat something substantial. Yugi had already started to bounce back from his emaciation, but Atem seemed to be just as thin and ill as he had been when he was first released from the dungeon.

Atem was probably too weak to transform at all, which brought up an interesting realization—this creature lying before Yugi was Atem in his true form. Yugi had never seen Atem in his true form before. Atem was always a dog or a human or a bird of some kind. Why he had hidden his real nature, Yugi did not know.

Atem's appearance reminded Yugi primarily of a star. His skin was a sort of yellow-white, and it seemed to have an inherent glow. On top of Atem's head was a mass of unruly hair the color of fine gold. His lips and fingernails were stained orange. But aside from a few differences in coloring, he looked very much like a human being. The strangest feature was a golden mark in the middle of his forehead, shaped in the form of an eye. It seemed strange, as thought it didn't quite fit, or as though it wasn't supposed to be there.

Yugi sighed quietly. "Please wake up soon," he said.

A minute passed, and then two. And then Atem's eyelids began to flutter slightly. Rich yellow eyes peeped out from beneath his heavy lids. He blinked as he looked aimlessly about the room. "Yugi…?" he muttered. His voice was hoarse and quiet.

"Atem! You're okay!" Yugi said. He laughed and threw his arms around Atem, who groaned. "Sorry," Yugi apologized. "But you were in really bad shape, and I guess… I guess I was worried that you weren't going to wake up at all."

Atem seemed dazed and confused. "What happened?" he asked, supporting himself on his elbows. "I remember that I was someplace very dark, and there were… needles…" He drifted off as he observed the color of his skin. His hand flew up to the eye-shaped mark on his forehead, and his breathing grew faster.

"Well, someone captured us and kept us in a dungeon," Yugi explained. "They kept trying to get me to tell them stuff about you. I don't know what you had to go through down there."

Atem kept his hand on his head as though he had a headache, but he didn't seem to be in pain. "They injected me with something that kept me from transforming," Atem answered. His memory seemed to be coming back now. "And took things from me—my blood, my spit, pieces of my skin and hair…"

"But my friends came and rescued us," Yugi said happily. "We're staying in Tea's house now."

Atem looked at Yugi worriedly. "Your friends know about me?" he asked.

"Don't worry; they didn't freak out or anything," Yugi assured. "They took it really well. Tea's been taking care of you for the past week." Atem fell back onto his pillow with a sigh.

"I'm glad that you're all right," Atem said softly.

Yugi smiled. "I'm glad you're okay, too," he said. "So this is your real form, huh?"

Atem squirmed. "Yes, this is my true form," he answered tersely. "I presume that you saw my mark, then?"

"Mark?" Yugi repeated. "You mean that eye thing on your forehead?"

"Of course that's what I mean," Atem retorted. Yugi recoiled a little in his chair. Atem sounded bitter, almost… angry. "What else would I be talking about?"

"Well, yeah, I saw it," Yugi said. "What's the matter?"

Atem turned his face away from Yugi pointedly. "Well? Don't you have anything to say about it?"

Yugi furrowed his little brow. "Atem, you're acting a little strange," he said. "Are you sure you're feeling okay…?"

"I'm fine," Atem snapped. He instantly filled with regret for his attitude, and he sighed. "Yugi, I'm sorry. I'm sure that it doesn't mean anything to you."

"All right, I'm really confused," Yugi said. "What are you talking about?"

"The mark on my forehead is the reason I lived alone in the forest," Atem explained. "My parents thought that I was cursed; my species thought that I was deformed. So I was exiled."

"Oh," Yugi breathed. "Wow, I'm really sorry. I thought it was just a really big freckle or something."

Atem laughed. "You are very kind," he said. "But shapeshifters don't have freckles or birthmarks or scars. Anything that mars our skin is a deformity."

"That's ridiculous," Yugi stated. "It's not like you're a freak or anything." But Atem's look told Yugi that he was wrong. Atem having a mark on his forehead was equivalent to Yugi having twelve toes. "Well, it doesn't matter to me."

Tea came in with a tray in her hands. Joey and Tristan trailed behind her. She saw Atem and froze. "Atem! You're awake!" she exclaimed. "This is wonderful!" She carelessly passed the tray to Joey, whose drool nearly infected the food that it carried. "How are you feeling? Are you hungry? Thirsty? Do you need anything?" she demanded. Atem grinned as Tea ignored him and passed him a bowl of chicken broth. "We've been so worried about you. You've been asleep for a while."

"Yes, Yugi has told me so," Atem said.

"So you two are friends, right? And you're living together?" Tea asked. She began passing sandwiches around to the boys, along with glasses of milk. Atem nodded, sipping his soup slowly for the sake of his weak stomach. "It's really nice to finally meet you."

"Yeah, it's nice ta meet ya!" Joey declared. He slapped Atem forcefully on the back, nearly causing the shapeshifter to choke on his broth. But Atem took it in good humor, and he smiled at Joey amiably.

"I am in your debt, all three of you," Atem replied. "If you hadn't rescued Yugi and me, we might not be alive today."

"Don't worry about it, man," Tristan said. "You should be thanking Yugi. We didn't even know you were there. If he hadn't made us go and get you, you'd probably still be down there."

"How _did_ you guys know to come and get us?" Yugi asked.

"Well, we were coming over to your house when we saw you and this dog being hauled away by some creeps," Tea began. "We figured that Yugi would never do anything illegal or anything, so we decided to follow them. We tracked them into the forest before we lost them. Then we decided that we should find out something about these guys before we tried to find them again. Joey knew somebody in Lihuthu who told us that anyone with a crest of a heron on their sleeves was part of a group called the Flock of Herons. Their organization wants to capture shapeshifters and experiment on them so that they could find a way to transform themselves."

"So that's why they kept asking me about Atem," Yugi commented. "They were trying to find out where they could find more shapeshifters."

"How did you find us?" Atem asked. "As far as I know, we were completely underground."

"My old pal told me dat da Flock o' Herons liked ta mark da passageways ta deir buildin's wit' stones wit' herons carved on 'em," Joey said. "If da heron was standin' on one leg, den da passageway led ta a dungeon. If da heron was standin' on two legs, da passageway led ta one o' deir headquarters."

"So we went back into the forest, found a stone with a one-legged heron on it, and went down there with an axe and a lantern so that we could get Yugi out of there," Tristan said.

"Wait a minute," Yugi interrupted. "If you didn't know about Atem, and you knew that the Flock of Herons only captured shapeshifters, then…"

"We thought that _you_ were the shapeshifter," Tea said. "It seems sort of silly now. If you could shapeshift, then why would you take… um… Never mind." She blushed and paid very close attention to her fingers in her lap.

Yugi began to understand what she meant. "Why would I take what?" he asked indignantly. Tea shook her head. "Why would I take what!?"

"That's not important," Atem said, saving Tea. "What's important is that this 'Flock of Herons' is going to be looking for me. I've already put Yugi in serious danger once. I need to make sure that I don't put him in danger again."

"What do you mean?" Yugi asked.

"As soon as I'm healthy enough to take care of myself, I'll leave Kitin and live on my own somewhere else," Atem said determinedly. Yugi looked horrified. "Yugi, it's for the best. If I stay here, then I'll just be dragging you back down into that dungeon. I don't want that, and neither do you."

"But that isn't the answer!" Yugi exclaimed. "You don't have to run away and go back to being alone." Yugi looked away. "Listen, I don't really know what I told those people while I was down there. I could have told them things that put the rest of your species in danger. Even if you do go away, then that won't solve the big problem."

"Then what do you want to do, Yugi?" Tea asked.

"We should take down this organization," Yugi proposed. "I know it sounds crazy, but what other choice do we have? I mean, Atem and I are kind of responsible for the shapeshifters in the forest now. Why would we want anyone to go through what we went through down there?"

"Yugi, this is going to be dangerous," Atem said. "How do you plan on taking down an entire organization when it's just the two of us?"

"It's simple—all we have to do is get to the leader and, well, knock some sense into him," Yugi explained.

"Wait a minute," Tristan said suddenly. "Joey, didn't you say that the leader of the Flock of Herons had his headquarters in some secluded part of the eastern mountains?"

"Yeah," Joey replied, nodding. "I heard dat he had somethin' ta hide from his followers, so he hid out in da mountains where nobody knew where he was."

"Then that will just make it easier to get to him!" Yugi said enthusiastically. "This is the only way to put the Flock of Herons behind us, once and for all."

Atem finally nodded. "Yes, Yugi, you're right. I can't let my fear endanger my species… even if they did exile me."


	6. Dysteria Plains

Kitin and the eastern mountains were separated by a wide, dry, grassy stretch of land known as Dysteria Plains. The name, which was a combination of "hysteria" and "dystopia," accurately depicted the condition of the plains—the grasses were packed full of malicious creatures both natural and supernatural.

Atem and Yugi were not going to go across the plains or around them. They were planning to go over them. Renting an aeroplaen would cost more money than Yugi had ever seen in his life, but Atem could easily transform into a roc and carry Yugi and their supplies.

"How long do you think you'll be gone?" Tea asked, as she walked with the rest of the boys out into the tall grass.

"I don't really know," Yugi admitted. "I brought enough food for a week, but we might be back sooner."

"Rocs are large and cover a great distance in a small time. It will probably only take a day or two to get to the eastern mountains," Atem explained. "But we don't know how long it will take us to find the stone with a two-legged heron carving."

"While you're gone, we'll try to convince the principal to let you back into school," Tristan said. "We'll say you… uh… had a sudden bout of amnesia, and that's why you were absent for over a month."

Tea shook her head, sighing. "We'll come up with something. Just promise us that you'll come back safely."

"And Atem," Joey said, "don't drop Yug', 'kay?"

Atem chuckled. "I promise."

Tea, Tristan, and Joey waved goodbye and headed back to Kitin. Yugi and Atem walked another mile or so out into the plains before Atem transformed into the enormous, long-necked bird with dull gray plumage known as a roc. They had to be far enough away from Kitin so that the townspeople wouldn't be able to shoot Atem down when they saw him suddenly rise out of the horizon.

Atem crouched down in the grass. He had to lay his chest completely against the ground before Yugi could manage to scramble onto his back. Atem was so gigantic that Yugi felt as though he was astride a skyscraper when Atem stood up. He outstretched his wings—his wingspan was easily equal to the width of the town square—and gave them a single experimental flap that flattened every blade of grass within a half-mile radius. Then, with another flap, Atem launched himself into the air, and Yugi was certain that every shapeshifter in the forest could hear him scream.

Yugi closed his eyes as tightly as he could and gripped Atem's neck for dear life. The heaving motion of the flight made Yugi feel as though he was going to vomit, but he willed his lunch to stay in his stomach. The wind flattened his clothes against his skin and stung his skin. If this was flying, he didn't like it, not at all.

Yet as the flight progressed, Atem flapped his wings less and soared steadily. The wind was chillier up here, but Yugi didn't feel nearly as nauseous. He cracked open one eye, then the other. The fierce air made his eyes water. He looked around with swimming vision at the clear blue sky and the bright sun. Then, against his better judgment, he looked down at the ground. It was like a sea of golden-brown, rippling with windy waves of grass. The mountains stood as small as little blue hills in the distance.

All of this was frightening and fascinating, but the wonder faded into boredom as the hours passed. Atem flew tirelessly forward as the sun reached its zenith and began to make its slow decent towards the west. There was nothing but grass, grass, grass. Once Atem flew over a wide, brown-green river, but the new attraction ended quickly.

The cold air seeped through Yugi's clothes and froze his skin. His lips became chapped and painful. Yugi grew tired and sore from sitting on Atem's back for so long. Finally, the rainbow colors of sunset spread over the sky. Atem gently angled toward the ground, descending slowly until they touched ground with a crash that very nearly unseated Yugi.

Atem lay down and let Yugi slid off. Yugi stumbled and fell to the ground laughing; his legs were too shaky to hold him up. Atem nudged him with his beak concernedly. "I'm fine," Yugi replied. "I just wasn't used to standing after flying all day long."

Atem transformed back into his usual human shape. "I'm sorry that we couldn't find a better place for shelter. These plains seem to stretch on for eternity," he said apologetically.

"I'm not worried; I'm just hungry," Yugi said. He had barely moved throughout the entire flight, so he hadn't touched the food in his pack. To back him up, his stomach growled loudly.

Atem frowned. "If you were hungry, you should have told me," he said. "We could have landed."

"But then we would have had to take off again, and I don't want to have to take off any more than I have to," Yugi said. He stuffed a huge chunk of bread into his little mouth. "Flyin's diff'rent 'hen you don't haff win'."

Yugi's words were distorted by the food in his mouth, but Atem understood his meaning. "Well, we should be there soon," he said. He sat down next to Yugi and joined him in eating. Grass surrounded them like a wall. "It should only be a few more hours until we reach the mountains."

"Good," Yugi said.

Atem grew pensive. "The mountains are roc territory, and they will not hesitate to defend their nests if they think we're getting too close. We will have to go on land once we get closer."

Yugi swallowed hard. "Why didn't you tell me all this sooner?" he asked. "I don't think that I brought enough food to be wandering around in the mountains for who knows how long!"

"I'm sorry, Yugi, but I just realized it myself," Atem replied. "Don't worry about food. I've been hunting game for fifty years—I can get food for us. But there's another matter that I'm just thinking of. This place is too flammable to start a fire and too dangerous to sleep out in the open. We'll need to think of a way to stay warm and keep the predators away from us while we sleep."

Yugi sighed. "We really didn't think this through very well, did we?" he asked.

"I'm not concerned for myself as much as I'm concerned for you," Atem said. "I could transform into a badger and sleep underground. But that would hardly keep you safe." Yugi fixed his eyes on the ground. "Hey," Atem said, realizing his mistake, "I never said that I thought that you were a burden."

"Maybe I am," Yugi replied sadly. "All you're doing is carrying me and protecting me and worrying about me. I'm just holding you back because I can't shapeshift like you can."

"Don't say that," Atem said sternly. "You don't hold me back—you push me forward. Were it not for you, we wouldn't even be on this mission. I would have selfishly run away, abandoning you, our friends, and my fellow shapeshifters. You keep me honest, Yugi, and good, and for that reason it is well worth it for you to be here."

Yugi smiled shyly. "Well, we still need to work something out."

For a time, they thought upon this. "I have an idea, but it is a drastic one," Atem said. "I could transform into a dragon."

Dragons were as large as rocs and could fly even more quickly than rocs could. However, their scales were as hot as the fires of the underworld. A human could be burned to death if they even came within a foot of a dragon's hide. "I'll use my claws to clear away the grass. You can sleep near me. You'll certainly be warm enough, and no creature would dare approach a dragon," Atem continued. "Given our circumstances, we have little choice."

These precautions were reasonable enough. Yugi grabbed his pack and dashed far into the maze of grass. Atem transformed, tossed enormous heaps of grass and dirt into the air, and then lay down on the ground with a thud that sent tremors into Yugi's legs. Yugi jogged back up and found Atem curled up like a giant, scaly cat, his tail tucked meekly by his serpentine head.

It was now as warm as a summer afternoon, so Yugi took off his jacket and balled it up for a pillow. He lay down on his back in one of Atem's claw marks. "I wonder what most people would do if they knew a shapeshifter," he said pensively. Atem's eyes, sanguine as rubies, glittered at him attentively. "The Flock of Herons wants to _be_ you. Some people would probably want to manipulate you. Other people would probably just be afraid of you and try to hurt you." Atem snorted his agreement, causing smoke to stream from his nostrils. "Why do human beings have to be like that? Why do we have to dominate or exterminate things that are different than us?" Yugi mused. "Are all of us so insecure?"

Atem couldn't answer. Yugi sighed and turned onto his side. "Goodnight, Atem," he said. He closed his eyes and fell asleep, his pseudo-dragon watching over him.


	7. Heron

The evening had passed without incident. The sun rose early the next morning, illuminating the boy and the dragon as they snoozed in the warm dirt. Atem awoke first and transformed into a human, skipping quickly off the searing-hot earth beneath his feet.

Atem had to keep himself from laughing out loud when he saw Yugi. Yugi, who had tossed and turned all night, was now covered in dirt from head to toe. He noticed the loss of Atem's heat-radiating hide and began to stir.

"Good morning, Yugi," Atem said, smiling. His grin grew wider as Yugi pushed himself up to a sitting position and dirt cascaded out of his hair. Sleepily, Yugi observed his skin and clothes. "We'll find a place for you to bathe in the mountains; there are plenty of streams there."

They breakfasted quickly on dried fruit and jerky. Yugi was still stiff and sore from yesterday's riding session, but he diligently scrambled up onto Atem's feathery back for another few hours of cold, wind-beaten nausea. The mountains grew excitingly close as they flew. When they approached one of the higher peaks, Atem made to land. The sound of screeching rocs warned them to stick to the ground for the last part of their journey.

"Do you think that the stone is in one of the gullies or on one of the higher slopes?" Yugi asked.

"Well," Atem replied thoughtfully, "it's difficult to say. But I'm certain that the leader of the Flock of Herons would want his headquarters to be safe and secluded. The building is probably somewhere that can't easily be accessed, and the stone would near the building."

"Well, that narrows it down," Yugi remarked sarcastically. He pulled a piece of parchment and a pencil out of his pack. "We'll just have to search the whole place. We can make a map of the places we've been before."

"Yugi, do you know how to make a map?" Atem asked.

"… No," Yugi admitted. "But it can't be that hard, can it? We'll just draw little paths and slopes and make a mark of things that stand out."

The map-making business proved to be harder than Yugi thought. As they navigated the gullies of the mountain, which were as labyrinthine as a maze, Yugi found his own illustrations confusing. But they began to recognize certain landmarks as they walked—a boulder that looked like an eagle, a dead tree at an intersection. Eventually Yugi's amateurish map began to make a little bit of sense. But they still hadn't found the stone with the two-legged heron.

Yugi took out one of their jugs of water and tried to take a swig, but it was empty. They only had one left now. "Hey, while we're looking for the stone, we should look for some water, too," Yugi said. "We're running out." Atem nodded, and they strained their ears for any sound of a trickling brook or stream.

They continued to walk in the dark shadow of the mountain slopes until it was late in the afternoon. Just as they were about to stop for the day, a minute trickle of water ran across their path. They followed it to its source, a tiered system of ponds and waterfalls spawned by melted snow. The highest tier had the largest, deepest pond and the most powerful waterfall. They replenished their water supply there. Yugi decided not to bathe in this water, for it was far too cold, and he didn't have a change of clothes.

Atem wasn't concerned about any of that. He stripped naked (Yugi blushed and looked away) and jumped into the water without even cringing. "Come on, Yugi," Atem called. "The water feels great."

"Liar," Yugi chided. "Besides, even if I was going to go in, I'd wait until you were finished."

Atem sighed. "I don't understand this nonsense about clothing," he stated. "Are you aware that humans are the only creatures who need to cover themselves up to feel secure?"

"Yes, I'm aware, thank you!" Yugi yelled indignantly. "Maybe I'm a little more modest than most animals."

"There's nothing about your body to be ashamed of," Atem said. But his words were falling on deaf ears. Yugi stubbornly sat down on the mossy rock and refuses to budge. Atem shook his head and swam over to the waterfall. He held his breath and pushed through the cascade of water, eager to see what was on the other side. He returned back to the main pond quickly. "Yugi!"

"I'm not going in!" Yugi declared.

"No… It's the stone. The stone with the heron on it," Atem said. He changed back into his clothes as Yugi went to look. "It's lucky that I decided to take a swim. We might not have found it otherwise."

Yugi knelt down and felt along the mossy ground. His fingers brushed against a latch; he grabbed it and pulled. The door was heavy, and Atem and Yugi had to team up to open it fully. The passageway below was pitch-black dark. Yugi saw Atem's eyes grow large and yellow, like those of an owl or some other nocturnal creature.

"Hold my hand," Atem said. "I'll lead you." Yugi grabbed Atem's hand, and they descended into the darkness. The hallway was dimly illuminated for a few feet, but eventually Yugi was walking blind. Atem, it seemed, could only see a little better than he could—Atem would occasionally stumble over a stone or a loose floor tile. But the passageway was straight, so it was easy to find their way to the trap door at the end.

They climbed up the stairs into a neglected courtyard. The rose garden was overrun with weeds. Grass was growing up in between the stone tiles. Algae grew in the pond, and flowering ivy trailed recklessly through the windows of an old greenhouse. "It looks like nobody's been out here for years," Yugi observed.

"If they have, they certainly haven't felt compelled to clean up a bit," Atem replied. "There doesn't seem to be an entrance to the house out here. Perhaps there's one in the greenhouse." Suddenly, a door hinge creaked. Yugi and Atem instinctually ducked behind the ivy-covered lattice.

A woman, clad head-to-toe in robes, drifted across the courtyard like a ghost. Her slippered feet glided over the ground, brushing old, crackly leaves from her path. Although she was completely covered in fabric, Yugi could tell that she was sad. Her movements were slowed by some grief, as though every step she took was futile because her future was dark and her life was hopeless.

Atem burst into the open, seized the woman, and clamped his hand over her mouth. She shrieked, but her voice was audible only for a moment before Atem silenced her. "Do you know who I am?" Atem asked. Trembling, the woman shook her head. "I'm one of the shapeshifters that you captured, starved, and tortured for your own selfish gain!"

The woman, though still trembling, paused for a moment as if she was confused. "Atem," Yugi said, "I don't think that she knows anything about this."

"Why else would she be living here?" Atem demanded.

"She could just be living _with_ the real leader," Yugi mused. "I don't know. I just get the feeling that she's not our enemy in all of this."

Atem sighed. "Is there someone living here with you?" he asked the woman. She nodded. "And are you going to scream for them if I let you go?" She hesitated. "No, you're not," Atem urged. Reluctantly, she nodded in compliance, and Atem released her.

"What do you want from my father?" she said. "Why do you accuse him of such terrible things?"

"I accuse him because he has done such terrible things," Atem retorted bitterly. "Your father nearly killed me and my best friend, all to obtain my power."

"Your power…" the woman muttered. "A shapeshifter's power." Atem nodded. "No. No, my father would never do such a thing. Not for me."

"What do you mean, for you?" Yugi asked.

The woman sank down into a rusty patio chair, so decrepit that it might have collapsed under her wraith-like weight. "My father is seeking the power of a shapeshifter for my sake," the woman admitted. "When I was born, I was… a monster. My mother despised me, tried to drown me, but my father saved me and hid me here in the mountains. He called me Heron… a beautiful name for a beautiful bird, but misplaced on an ugly, deformed child like me. He promised that he would find some way to make me right, but I never thought that he would hurt anyone for something so vain."

Atem's anger softened; his intimidating attitude melted into pity. He had been in the same position as Heron—disfigured, despised, exiled into isolation. But her father's misdeeds could not be pardoned. It was repulsive to transfer the characteristics of one species to another. The Flock of Herons would still need to be stopped.

"Heron," Atem began, "I know what it's like to be in your position. I, too, was born… different. I was called 'deformed' and 'cursed,' and I was exiled from society. I was alone, ashamed of myself and my appearance, so I hid myself in the forms of animals and humans. I didn't take my natural form for fifty years… but it didn't matter. I was wearing mask after mask, but I could never regain the self-esteem I lost on account of my mark. It didn't matter what form I took, because I always considered myself deformed and cursed.

"But then I found Yugi," Atem continued. Yugi smiled humbly. "And Yugi made me feel as though I could come to him in whatever form, because it was my heart that mattered to him. He taught me what was really important—not a mark on my skin, but my character. And it won't matter if you have the power of a shapeshifter or not. Even if you took the form of the most beautiful woman on earth, it will all be nothing if you don't have someone who loves you for your insides, not your outsides."

Heron gazed at her sleeve-covered hands. "My father loves me," she whispered. "But if he's really been going through such measures just to change my appearance…."

"He probably does that just because he wants you to be happy," Yugi said. "He doesn't want to see you all lonely and sad. He's your dad."

"I can't be happy here!" Heron exclaimed. "I love and hate this house. It's my sanctuary and my prison. It is cold and decaying and empty. But what will the world think of me, after what my own mother thought of me?"

"Not everyone in this world will reject you because of your appearance," Atem said. "If you try, you will make friends."

Heron nodded quietly. "I will talk to my father about the things that he's done. If he truly is doing it for me and not, as you said, for his own selfish gain, he will heed me and stop persecuting your kind." She rose quickly. "And I will also talk to my father about the things you've said. I belong in this house no longer."

"Maybe my friends and I will see you in Kitin sometime," Yugi said hopefully. Heron turned to him and seemed to smile beneath her veil.

"Maybe," she replied softly. She glided off into the greenhouse and left, and Atem and Yugi disappeared into the passageway so that they could begin the long journey home.


	8. Eyes of Love

Goodbye to The Forest Boy; I'll miss you. Thanks to **Protector of the Nameless, Yizuki, Suma Amoru, dragonlady222, Deviousdragon, Shamise, SRRH, S2Teennovelist, Bored2Deth, Serzie, lady Alexas, **and **YamisChibi **for brightening my day with your reviews.

Thanks to **Bored2Deth, Protector of the Nameless, Sparxyu, Yizuki, lady Alexas, **and **the little vampire lover** for favoriting and making me feel appreciated as a writer.

Thanks to **Atemu Yugi Lover34, Panguins-in-American-Oh-my, Pharaohyamifan, PuzzleFreak, SRRH, Shamise, Yizuki, lady Alexas, **and **yuuhikari** for alerting and making me look forward to every upload day!

And thank you for your love, all my readers!

* * *

Atem and Yugi strolled through the high grass of the plains as they trekked back to Kitin. "I've never been out of town before," Yugi said suddenly.

Atem chuckled. "So, how was your trip?"

"The transportation was… satisfactory," Yugi replied thoughtfully. "The food was sub-par, and the scenery tended to get repetitious." Atem laughed. That must have been the first time that Yugi had used the word "repetitious" in his life. "But the company was excellent."

"Yes, I agree," Atem said, smiling. "But I suspect that you never expected to take your first out-of-town expedition to rescue the shapeshifters in the forest from a terrible fate."

"Nah. I was actually thinking about visiting Capital City," Yugi answered.

They returned to Yugi's house before visiting Tea, Joey, and Tristan. Every horizontal surface was covered in an inch-thick layer of dust. Mice squeaked in the corners. Atem and Yugi hadn't been there since they had been captured. Yugi shooed a mouse off his chair before sitting down with a sigh.

"The house's in bad shape, but it's still good to be home," Yugi breathed. "First the dungeons, then Tea's house, then the open road… We haven't been here for over a month."

"That's evident," Atem noted, grabbing a mouse by the tail and—Yugi looked away, and all he heard was a sickening crunch. "Perhaps we should clean up a bit before inviting the others over," he continued, wiping the blood off his lips.

"Fine. Just… clean up someplace else. That's gross," Yugi said. He grabbed a dust rag as Atem transformed into a cat and feasted on rodent. When the house was returned to its normal state of slight disorder, Yugi and Atem headed to the entrance of the school and waited for classes to end.

Tea spotted Yugi's outrageous hair as soon as she walked out of the door. "Yugi!" she yelled. She ran up to him and threw her arms around Yugi's shoulders, for he was too short for them to hug any other way. When she was finished with Yugi, she assaulted Atem. "I'm so glad you two are back safely!"

"Hey! Guys!" Joey yelled. He and Tristan came running up. "How was ya trip? Did ya knock some sense inta dat jerk?"

"Actually, we didn't even see him," Yugi said. As they made their way back to Yugi's house, Yugi and Atem explained what they had done on their small adventure.

"Do you think that he's actually going to listen to his daughter?" Tristan asked.

"Everything that Heron said made perfect sense," Atem said. "He made a home in the mountains to shield her from the world. He sought to steal shapeshifters' power so that she could live a normal life. He loves her very much, I think, so much that he was willing to do anything for her. He would happily obey her wishes."

"Yugi, the principal said that you can come back to school on Monday, but you need to hand in a lot of unfinished homework," Tea said. She reached into her book bag and pulled out an enormous sheaf of assignments. Yugi blanched, and he got started on the stack immediately.

Atem looked around at his friends and smiled. He was certain that these people would be his friends no matter what form he took, no matter what mark he had. Although he loved his parents and his species in a detached way (loved them enough to save them), the difference was that these humans loved him, too. And love didn't find fault or ridicule. Love saw only good.


End file.
